The present invention has its genesis in the video gaming machine environment. While it will be particularly discussed with respect to embodiments in that arena, it will be understood that this is but one application of the invention, and the invention has much broader scope.
So said, traditional slot machines have a plurality of rotating mechanical drums, which “rotate” (either through actual movement of reels or video illustrations of moving reels) and then stop to show symbols, which are typically on one or more paylines across the reels. Players wager coins or credits on one or more of these paylines and are paid for certain combinations of symbols on a payline for which a wager has been placed. In certain slot machines, there may be combinations of symbols that pay the player that are not necessarily confined to strict paylines, such as so-called scatter pays which may be awarded when certain symbols appear in any visible position on certain reels. Video slot machines often add in a bonus game that occurs when a game results in a particular symbol combination or some other triggering event.
In a typical multi-line slot machine, each line that is wagered upon uses the same or a similar pay schedule. Multiple chances for the symbols to land in a paying combination are provided. However each payline played is treated in essence as its own independently played game.
Keno is another well-known wagering game. In a typical Keno game a player selects between one and fifteen numbers in the range of one to eighty. The game is played by randomly selecting some of the eighty possible numbers. It is customary to draw twenty numbers at random as the winning numbers, and in live Keno games this is usually accomplished using air blown ping-pong balls with one ball representing each of the possible eighty numbers. There is usually a separate paytable for each quantity of numbers played (e.g., a particular paytable with pay values is used when fifteen numbers are chosen that, for example, will pay the player whenever six or more of the selected numbers are drawn. A different paytable would ordinarily be used for ten numbers chosen, which may pay the player whenever five or more of the selected numbers are drawn). The paytables usually increase in pay value for the more matching numbers that are drawn. One attractive feature of most Keno paytables is that the increase in payoff (for more correct numbers selected) increases in a non-linear fashion that results in very high awards as the number of matches increases. This non-linear paytable is the result of the extremely low probability of hitting a high quantity of selected numbers (such as thirteen or more matches out of fifteen selected numbers). This very low probability allows very high awards to be possible.